What's Going on with the Caves on Mars?

Hello ATS. I was thinking about Mars and how there's more and more evidence of civilization there with all of the different objects, structures, and such being found by the rovers. Anyway, I remember that there was all of this hoop-la surrounding some caves that the rover(a) found and how scientists were anxious about exploring these caves. Of course that never happened, the Sojourner Rover stopped working, and now only one of the Rovers is still operational; Curiosity I believe. So I'm wondering: Did scientists just drop the cave exploration idea? If so, why?

In a conspiracy twist, I wouldn't rule out the possibility that the Sojourner Rover is still active in secret but on a mission to explore these Martian Caves. Maybe they've found something in the caves that they don't want us to find out about just yet, or maybe never.

What says ATS?

Are not the rovers solar powered or at least rely on solar power for charging? I would think a trip into a cave would cause problems with navigation, receiving and sending communications, and power. Just my take on things.

Remember the huge hole on Mars?
Anything come of that?

originally posted by: stirling
Remember the huge hole on Mars?
Anything come of that?

Oh yeah! There are several points of interest that have been found over the years as I recall which we never explored further.

originally posted by: NihilistSanta
Are not the rovers solar powered or at least rely on solar power for charging? I would think a trip into a cave would cause problems with navigation, receiving and sending communications, and power. Just my take on things.

I see what you're saying but if that is the reason then why didn't NASA say so? NASA is suspiciously silent about updates on some of what they've found so far. Such as the caves, the giant hole, the Martian man, the supposed Forest on Mars, an odd tower of sorts, some carvings, and other odd artifacts which have been found by the Rover(s). NASA hasn't examined any of them further or given any updates thus far. At least not to my knowledge.

a reply to: lostbook

It's funny to me that the Sojourner rover is the one that "stopped working." this rover was named after Sojourner Truth, a woman born into slavery. She gave herself that name for the reason she told her friends "The spirit calls me, and I must go." Thus Truth was born into slavery and now the Truth is not working, or not going to be told.

a reply to: NihilistSanta

Hi

The old rovers were solar powered.

The operational rover, curiosity i believe now has no panels and is nuclear powered.

source link

quote from Wikipedia

"Curiosity '​s power generator is the latest RTG generation built by Boeing and Idaho National Laboratory, called the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator or MMRTG."

"The MMRTG produces less power over time as its plutonium fuel decays: at its minimum lifetime of 14 years, electrical power output is down to 100 watts"

interesting stuff!

a reply to: korkythecat

Thanks for the info. How would they control the rover underground though? Communications etc? Is there any information regarding them designing it to operate underground?

a reply to: NihilistSanta


To be honest I'm not sure, but it's true to say that if they use frequencies above VHF to communicate with curiosity then communication is pretty much line of sight, precluding operations in an underground environment.

Possibly could be programmed though? but I'll bet they would not risk it.

Hollow Mars Theory, anyone?

There aren't any caves anywhere near any of the operational rovers, as far as I'm aware. Caves and grottos or sinkholes have been spotted by the orbiting spacecraft, such as the MRO.

a reply to: lostbook

Let's take it point by point:

1. I haven't seen any evidence of a civilization on Mars. All I have seen is rocks, extremely magnified blurry pixels, and image artifacts.

2. I'm not aware of any caves being found by any of the rovers, or that scientists were anxious about exploring them. Perhaps you could give some links to support your statement?

3. There is more than one rover being operational.

When you make post full of questionable statements and presumptions, it would be nice if you supported them with links or pictures.

After well over a year of looking at Curiosity and other pictures from Mars I've seen no evidence of any martian-made-object on that barren planet. I've seen quite a few things which could be fossil impressions in rocks, especially of marine life. Those are the gems of the Mars anomalies threads.

People have come and gone claiming structures, foundations of buildings, guns, ships, statues, machines, and the like. None of them seem credible. Many of them turned out to be a bunch of rocks when photographed from another angle. All, imnho, were the claimants brain relating shapes of rocks and formations of rocks to their memories of objects on earth.

a reply to: Aleister

You know the problem is without atmosphere it would seem possible they'd decay a lot faster/different. And what did we really do? Photographed them from a different angles. Which makes your statement entirely true. Still if I look at a statue, through the glasses of a machine and the object went through unknown states of that decaying, i very likely wouldn't know what i am looking at, because i have no reference for it.

originally posted by: wildespace
a reply to: lostbook

Let's take it point by point:

1. I haven't seen any evidence of a civilization on Mars. All I have seen is rocks, extremely magnified blurry pixels, and image artifacts.

2. I'm not aware of any caves being found by any of the rovers, or that scientists were anxious about exploring them. Perhaps you could give some links to support your statement?

3. There is more than one rover being operational.

When you make post full of questionable statements and presumptions, it would be nice if you supported them with links or pictures.

Understandable, Wildespace. Here are some links for you:

Caves of Mars Project - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
r.search.yahoo.com...=A0LEV0poK9ZUN.wAsZFXNyoA;_ylu=X3o'___'EzMG5kc2J0BHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkA1NNRTYxMl8x/RV=2/RE=1423350761/RO= 10/RU=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fCaves_of_Mars_Project/RK=0/RS=dUCo08xTNBMc8BipSHryJraSDfE-

Mars Cave Mission Entices Scientists
r.search.yahoo.com...=A0LEV0poK9ZUN.wAu5FXNyoA;_ylu=X3o'___'EzN3JkYWhjBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMwRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkA1NNRTYxMl8x/RV=2/RE=1423350761/RO= 10/RU=http%3a%2f%2fwww.space.com%2f18546-mars-caves-sample-return-mission.html/RK=0/RS=yFRj21so_h4jTvuw8m4DEcOh8Co-

Cave Skylights Spotted on Mars - NASA Science
r.search.yahoo.com...=A0LEV0poK9ZUN.wAx5FXNyoA;_ylu=X3o'___'EzOXRrazI1BHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDNQRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkA1NNRTYxMl8x/RV=2/RE=1423350761/RO= 10/RU=http%3a%2f%2fscience.nasa.gov%2fscience-news%2fscience-at-nasa%2f2007%2f21sep_caves%2f/RK=0/RS=uNVb8MxHf2uhDO4ls1J0HVWrVaE-

Here is a site I check every so often called Malin Space. Malin Space builds and maintains the cameras used for studying Space and Mars & this site include images from the MSSS science instruments: Mars Descent Imager (MARDI), Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), and the Mast Cameras (Mastcam).. There are tons of images going back to 1993 and there is some interesting stuff to be found.

Check it out.

a reply to: lostbook

Found this today, maybe you like it too: HiRISE

originally posted by: Peeple
a reply to: lostbook

Found this today, maybe you like it too: HiRISE

Thanks!

a reply to: lostbook

All those yahoo links are 404 page not found.

a reply to: lostbook

No, there is not more and more evidence. There is NO evidence